The election for NFLPA Exec Dir in March "may have its gadfly candidate" in 44-year-old lawyer James Acho, who last week "announced his candidacy," according to Daniel Kaplan of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Acho, who represents NFL retirees, "is out front about a few things going in -- including that he knows little about the collective-bargaining agreement" signed in '11. His "main plank is lifetime medical benefits for players." Players' medical benefits currently "expire five years after they stop playing." Acho is a partner with Michigan-based Cummings, McClorey, Davis & Acho, through which he has "worked pro bono for the NFL Alumni Association." He was "approached about the NFLPA post by retirees." While there are "rumblings that other candidates might emerge as well, so far it’s only" former NFLer Sean Gilbert and Acho "who have announced their intentions to try to unseat" current Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/12 issue).
INCONVENIENT TRUTH: A WASHINGTON POST editorial states the Mueller Report's finding that NFL officials did not have access to the elevator video of Ray Rice and his then-fiancee Janay Palmer -- a "key bit of evidence" -- is "hardly a vindication." It is a "damning indictment of the league’s incompetence in handling this case and its indifferent attitude toward domestic violence" (WASHINGTON POST, 1/13). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wrote former FBI Dir Robert Mueller "could have explored" whether NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and two of his lieutenants "created a false version of the events in order to justify Rice’s second suspension." Florio: "But Mueller didn’t. And Mueller never says why he didn’t." It never was investigated "because the league never asked for it to be investigated" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 1/12).
SHADES OF GRAY: In Ft. Lauderdale, Omar Kelly wrote, "I initially felt the Rooney Rule would do more good than harm. I initially thought the Rooney Rule would help open doors for all minorities." However, the truth is it "has become a farce, and could eventually do more harm than good despite its $500,000 fine for violators because the world's richest and most powerful men don't like to be told who to interview or hire." For "real change to happen the NFL needs to alter the approach, putting more of an emphasis on the lower levels of football's hierarchy" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 1/10).
